Anti-gay funeral crashers strike in Indiana

WISH-TV 8 is reporting that Fred Phelp's clan struck yesterday in Martinsville, IN. These sick, twisted bastards really must have nothing better to do. I don't support the war in Iraq, but you don't see me out protesting fallen soldiers funerals. I also don't support lots of other things, but I'm not out protesting in front of a someone's grieving relatives. When these losers kick off, I hope they just tip the casket out and let the dogs gnaw their bones - they obviously have no respect for the dead.

People arriving to say goodbye to a hometown hero, met an altogether different scene in Martinsville. Demonstrators dragging American flags on the ground and holding signs opposing U. S. troops.

"The thing that got us here is that Sgt. Doyle died for us to give us our freedom and then you have people like this to come and it's ridiculous. It's absurd," one funeral attendee told News 8.

Tension grew before the demonstrators finally left their location, right across the street from Army Sgt. Jeremy Doyle's funeral service.

According to the group's website, it sees American deaths in Iraq as a kind of punishment for social misdeeds. Martinsville residents said the protesters picked the wrong time and the wrong town to express their views.

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Ironic that it's in Martinsville, former (current?) home of the KKK in Indiana. I know it's all about the shock value for Phelps, but these protests are beyond the pale even for him.But, sadly, he does succeed in pulling the right wing so far right that people like Ann Coulter look mainstream.

I try to avoid furthering their desire for publicity in any way I can, so I have never darkened the door of their website.I have often wondered though, how do they get the money to travel all over the country so often?

Phelps, Miller, Falwell... All easily identified as the radical righteous right (RRR) but not so easily understood as the Christian Reconstructionists they are. Their movement/ call-to-salvation/ is totally about changing all of American society to their belief system. Their beliefs derive from their very literal interpretation of the Holy Bible. Decades ago the Republican Party embraced these Christian Reconstructions into their family. (It seemed a good marriage, many among them held/hold parallel ideals on: taxation, direct court action, smaller government, strict constitutional interpretion, the evils of wealth redistribution, gay civil rights, same sex marriage---to name a few. ) As a result of the merger both the RRR and the GOP have steadily gained incredible momentum and power. IMHO, Phelps is not a fringe element he is the element personified. I do believe they all get their money using like tactics: convincing others that the only way to salvation (for others, the good life now) is via Christian Reconstructionâ€¦